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Issues » Fact Sheets
Environment & Safety Fact Sheets
Endangered Species Act
Enacted in 1973, the ESA sought to prevent people from "taking" species listed as endangered or threatened. Throughout the history of American wildlife law, "taking" an animal meant to physically injure or kill it. That changed however, when the Fish and Wildlife Service (the Interior Department agency primarily responsible for administering the Act) expanded the meaning of "take" in 1975 to prohibit ordinary land uses that merely modified unoccupied habitat. As a result, landowners from coast-to-coast have been prevented from using their land.
IPAA supports major reforms of the ESA to include use of better science in the listing process, increased considerations of economics, improved habitat conservation planning, and compensation for the lost use of property.
Specifically, IPAA believes reforms should be instituted that:
- Require better, more complete science in listing and critical habitat decisions by requiring peer review and improving data collection.
- Provide for far greater consideration of socio-economics in all ESA land and water use decision, focusing on recovery plans. Development and implementation of recovery plans would give priority to the least socio-economic costly alternative and would require assessments of the impacts of ESA land and water use decisions on state and local economies and land values.
- Provide for more complete consideration of economic impacts of critical habitat designations, including review of impacts of listing decision on critical habitat.
- Recognize that routine maintenance and safety operations do not trigger consultations concerning the environmental impacts of the entire project.
- Specify that actions in compliance with an approved Cooperative Management Agreement or Recovery Plan are exempt from further consultation and "take" liability.
- Clarify the "take" prohibitions of "harm" and "harass" are not triggered unless an injury is caused.
- Authorize the issuance of general permits for activities which have only minimal impacts on species.
- Provide for compensation for lost use of property due to ESA restrictions.
March 1999
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